Life is interconnected and so are the topics on this blog. It might be cooking and gardening one day, yoga the next, knitting and sewing, or hiking and then bird watching followed by recycling or composting. They are the parts that bring humble joy to my life of voluntary simplicity in Montana.

Saturday, November 30, 2013

In the Kitchen

I surely enjoy spending time in the kitchen. Matt does, too, probably even more so than me. I never cease to be pleased by the creativity and satisfaction found in making a meal from scratch. In many ways it has spoiled me! I am used to being able to make things JUST to my liking and with the freshest ingredients possible. That makes it harder to enjoy soup from a can and the like!

Unbrie cheese with spicy pepper jelly, just-picked carrots, and some of the last of the 2012 applesauce. Carrots that are fresh like that just taste totally different in a very good way. Matt's making cheese for part of the Thanksgiving feast. I am really, really looking forward to it.

Another batch of hot sauce with some of the cayenne peppers we grew this summer. Its been a while since I had red cayennes to work with. I invariably end up harvesting more green than red because of the end of the growing season. As a result this is the most beautiful, tasty hot sauce I've made in what seems like quite a while. I have to wonder if I think it tastes better just because it is prettier.

Quiche with homegrown spinach. Its so nice having spinach in the freezer. We tried to start a late season crop, but dilly-dallied too long in planting and the little tiny spinach plants didn't make it. Drat. But, at least we've got the freezer supply.

A vanilla variation on the three ingredient ice cream recipe (banana, vanilla extract, peanut butter), with the last of the roast pears and caramel sauce. I think I might even like the vanilla one better. Or maybe that was just on account of it being covered in roast pears and caramel sauce.